Flint Regional Science Fair features theories, experiments with a touch of elbow grease

Ryan Pratt, 13, demonstrates his experiment testing how far a soccer ball will travel with different levels of air at Kettering University Saturday, March 16.
Lauren Justice | MLive.com

FLINT, MI – Ever wonder what type of soda has the most carbonation -- Coke, Vernors or Sprite?

How about whether a house with children has more bacteria than one without?

Student scientists at the Flint Regional Science Fair have the answers.

Kettering University’s campus center was transformed into a haven for scientists March 16-17 as students from Genesee, Lapeer, Shiawassee, St. Clair and Tuscola Counties gathered to prove or disprove their theories.

The event featured a gallery of poster boards, each fitted with a hypothesis, an explanation of how the student conducted the investigation and the results. Posters were individually adorned with scientific equations, images and interactive displays not found in the average textbook.

The scientific process began to take shape with one student’s replica of the Mars Rover.

“I’ve always been interested in engineering and astronomy,” said Samantha Hunsinger, an eighth-grade student at Davison Middle School. “When I grow up, I want to work at NASA.”

Hunsinger’s Rover replica -- scaled down to the size of a small remote-control car – was suspended by a frame made of LEGOs and six rubber wheels.

Fit with a motor, battery and gears, it propelled itself nearly 7 inches after a 70-minute charge using purely solar power – or at least the energy absorbed from a lamp the rover had been stationed under.

“I wish I could have used actual sunlight, but it was winter time when I did it,” said Hunsinger, who got an A on the project and hopes for an honorable mention at Sunday’s award ceremony.

Hunsinger thought it would be interesting to take the rover outside when the weather warms to see what effect, if any, direct sunlight may have.

Josiah Jaster, a home-schooled fifth-grade student from New Lothrop, sought to prove the power of levers in his experiment. He built a balance beam fashioning a yardstick to a fulcrum and positioned items of different weights at specifically marked increments.

A photograph attached to Jaster's poster board experiment display had him standing on one end of a two-by-four piece of wood and a rock placed in a crate on the other. The hands-on approach of building a life-size model with himself as a participant hit the mark.

Of course, he’d require assistance from his father to lift the counterweight – a rock weighing precisely 243.8 pounds.

Jaster said lifting the rock was his favorite part, along with testing the experiment outside.

“I think I can do pretty good,” said Jaster, who is a finalist in the Sunday award ceremonies.

Alex Dutton, 15, discusses his experiment creating a generator. Dutton said the labor-intensive work is not yet finished -- it will be a project he continues to work at and improve. The Flint Regional Science Fair was held the weekend of Friday, March 15, at Kettering University.
Lauren Justice | MLive.com

Other students, such as LakeVille Middle School eighth-grade student Katelyn Carriero, set out to find different results. Carriero was able to prove the most carbonated soda was Vernors, when comparing Coke, Vernors and Squirt..

Fifth-grade finalist Aaminah Najjar of Genesee Academy correctly hypothesized a home without children contains less bacteria than a home with children.

Joseph Luna, an eighth-grade student at Davison Middle School, found that “cold energy can be just as productive as thermal energy, if not more.”

Projects were erected in Kettering University’s campus center Friday with judging beginning Saturday morning. Members of the public browsed through the displays on Saturday afternoon.

Those interested can also view the fair on Sunday from 12-5 p.m. and Monday from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Admission is free.

An awards ceremony is scheduled for Sunday at 1:30 p.m. for elementary students and 3:15 p.m. for junior and senior divisions. Four senior division winners receive all-expenses-paid trips to the INTEL International Science & Engineering Fair. Students involved in the fair can also receive scholarships and other prizes.